ST. LOUIS — Days after announcing 36 lawsuits against Missouri school districts over mask requirements aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced nine more lawsuits Monday.
On Friday, Schmitt tweeted lawsuits his office has filed against school districts across the state, including several in the St. Louis area. Schmitt sent out a total of 36 lawsuits against school districts in Missouri. His lawsuits demand that schools “halt the unlawful mask mandate in their district.”
On Monday, he added nine more school districts to that list, including eight in the St. Louis area. Schmitt's office did not say why these lawsuits were not announced in the initial round.
The eight St. Louis area schools sued on Monday were:
In its latest guidance on Jan. 13, the CDC recommended universal masking by all students, staff, teachers and visitors regardless of vaccination status. The CDC also recommends other mitigation efforts like improved ventilation, screening testing and handwashing.
Every county in the St. Louis area and nearly every county in the country is experiencing what the CDC classifies as high levels of community transmission of COVID-19, due in part to the highly contagious omicron variant.
Many of the school districts sued by the attorney general have responded to his lawsuits, decrying the action as a waste of taxpayer money. On Monday, the St. Charles School District said in a statement that it was "deeply disappointed."
The full statement reads as follows.
"The City of St. Charles School District is deeply disappointed that Attorney General Eric Schmitt has chosen to sue us along with many other districts in the state of Missouri. This cynical action is a waste of taxpayer dollars and serves to undermine the authority of local, publicly elected officials and, thus, the will of the people.
"The City of St. Charles School District and its Board of Education will continue to serve the citizens of our district by protecting the health and well-being of our students, staff and community, and remaining dutiful in educating the future of our great nation."
Despite the lawsuits, two districts in the St. Louis area voted to keep COVID mitigation strategies in place. The Kirkwood school board voted unanimously to keep a mask requirement in all district buildings. A vote to remove all COVID mitigations in the Fort Zumwalt school district did not pass, with three board members voting for it, three voting against it and one board member absent.
In a statement on Monday, Schmitt reiterated his position, saying, "As we’ve made clear from the beginning, the power to make health decisions for their children should be in the hands of parents, not bureaucrats."
"This is a fight worth fighting, and I’m not going to back down,” his statement said.
Schmitt is running for U.S. Senate to fill the seat that will be vacated by the retiring Roy Blunt. Other candidates in the crowded Republican primary include Representative Billy Long of southwest Missouri, former Governor Eric Greitens and St. Louis-area attorney Mark McCloskey.